Zone of reliable reception
Valery Krayev, Lieutenant General, Candidate of Legal Sciences, former First Deputy Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia
"Rossiyskaya Gazeta" - Federal Issue No. 5088 (9) of 20 January 2010.
Russia not so long ago broke a sad record—overtaking the USA and China, it took the leading place in the number of convicts per one hundred thousand population. Is this the limit? Of course not.
Today, much is said about the fact that the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation is preparing a large-scale reform of the punishment system. Since I have worked in the prison system for many years, I want to share my view on the problems of places not so remote.
A historical monument
It is no secret to anyone that 20 percent of pre-trial detention centre buildings in Russia were built in the 18th–19th centuries. Of these, almost 40 percent require repair. For this, the Federal Targeted Programme “Development of the Criminal-Executive System” was approved. At its expense, the Federal Penitentiary Service in 2007 alone utilised 2.9 billion roubles from the federal budget. Through these funds, 2,338 places were “put into operation,” and through all sources of funding, 5,112 places were introduced. Unfortunately, the headquarters of the prison system has still not managed to form an opinion in society that deprivation of liberty is an exceptional measure, applied only for the commission of grave and especially grave crimes. The state allocated such necessary billions of roubles—over 73 billion roubles under the Federal Targeted Programme for the design and reconstruction of prisons and colonies.
But at the same time, despite regular trips abroad to exchange experience, there are as yet no real proposals to use the experience of building institutions in other countries with the attraction of private capital on an instalment plan for 25 years under government guarantees.
Therefore, today, in the pre-trial detention centres of a quarter of the subjects of the Russian Federation, the norm of square metres per person is very far from what is necessary.
The difference between a prison and a zone
The headquarters of our prison industry has not changed the graduation of correctional institutions by types of detention regimes for more than 20 years. Just read how many we have! Prison, then follow colonies: special, strict, general regimes, educational, educational for convicted girl-criminals, women’s, for convicted women with children, medical-correctional, for lifers, settlement colonies! Such separation condemns millions of people to being convoyed.
Every year, over two million people move across the boundless expanses of our country. Such are the data of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for 2006. This is also facilitated by the “blurred” norms of Article 73 of the Penal Enforcement Code of the Russian Federation regarding the place of serving the sentence. These norms allow dishonest employees to abuse their official position. And they also allow professional crime to concentrate in places of deprivation of liberty. At transfer stages, at transit-transfer points, people have to go through bitter training courses in the rules and customs of the criminal world. It is especially difficult for those who have been convicted for the first time. But it is even worse for minors.
The practice of mass removal of convicts to serve their sentences outside their native regions often leads to the destruction of socially useful ties, difficulties in registration and employment after serving the sentence. And yet, the problem of employment “at liberty” is more urgent than ever during the crisis. More than 200,000 people released from confinement face these difficulties every year.
The course towards turning 755 correctional institutions of the country into centres for social adaptation turned out to be erroneous. And yet, more than 530,000 people convicted of committing grave and especially grave crimes serve their sentences in them.
Prevention behind barbed wire
According to reports from the Ministry of Justice of Russia, the “failed” situation with paid jobs in correctional institutions, which was much talked about in the press, is worsening. This violates Article 103 of the Penal Enforcement Code of the Russian Federation.
Lack of money and unemployment have firmly established themselves behind barbed wire. Convicts have no opportunity to compensate for the damage caused to victims (Article 107 of the Penal Enforcement Code of the Russian Federation). According to data for 2006, only 29 percent of convicts compensated for damage to victims. And this “record” of three years ago is not the limit.
Approaches to obtaining a secondary education in the zone are outdated. And this is important—10 percent of minor criminals newly arriving in colonies have not completed a single grade of school behind them!
Numerous instructions on the topic of how to eat, dress, walk, when and with whom to meet, etc., have not faded into the past. Instructions have regulated the life of prisoners to such an extent that they themselves have turned into an additional form of punishment. If you put it all together—non-compensation for damage, attitude to work, study, observance of the regime—the result for the convict turns out to be sad. It is called—a negative character reference in court, where the issue of parole, of a possible release to freedom ahead of schedule—to the family—is considered. And this cannot be appealed anywhere! There is no such higher judicial instance today. Cassation appeal of Article 175 of the Penal Enforcement Code of the Russian Federation does not exist in legal nature.
The boss in the zone
Almost 30,000 disabled people of the I–II group, sitting in places of deprivation of liberty, are in need of judicial protection today. About 25,000 CIS citizens are awaiting return to their homeland. The question is not an idle one, since billions of roubles go towards their maintenance.
An analysis of official investigations shows that the majority of “emergencies” in colonies are the result of the transfer of certain functions of administrations to so-called “amateur” public organisations from among the convicts. This is spoken of in Part 3 of Article 111 of the Penal Enforcement Code of the Russian Federation. Participation in these organisations, which are often run by criminal authorities, is also “taken into account when determining the degree of correction” of convicts for parole.
The “care” of such amateur organisations became the primary cause of group and mass unrest in correctional institutions over the last five years: group self-mutilations, refusals to accept food in the city of Lgov, Kursk region, the settlement of Farnosovo, Leningrad region, the Orenburg region (2005–2006), and in other regions.
A so-called “thief-in-law” from Saratov can, over the phone, recommend that prisoners not accept food, another from Kazan—to accept food, and yet another from the Moscow region—for a group of convicts to inflict bodily harm on themselves. And hundreds of people, fearing for their lives and the lives of relatives at liberty, do it.
The impact of criminal traditions on ordinary people who have made a mistake and ended up in places of confinement is such that they sometimes find themselves on the verge of life and death. The role of colony administrations, operational and special services in such cases is negligible.
The echo of the incident in the city of Kopeysk, Chelyabinsk region, in 2008 was the resignation and initiation of a criminal case against the head of the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Chelyabinsk region. Although the manager acted in this case strictly in accordance with his official duties.
The spirit of the GULAG
This spirit consists in the phrase—“let no one into the zone, I am the master here.” It flourishes most of all in the relations between public associations and the prison department itself. Article 21 of the Penal Enforcement Code of the Russian Federation speaks about such interaction. But the issues of joint work are insufficiently regulated. Public associations today are endowed only with the opportunity to visit correctional institutions without special permission for this (Article 24 of the Penal Enforcement Code of the Russian Federation). It is necessary to revive, on a permanent basis, public monitoring commissions under local self-government bodies. They must have a large range of powers to control the conditions and procedure for serving sentences.
Although it must be stated that the majority of employees of the criminal-executive system are honest people. Their work is indeed connected with risk.
Half of the personnel of 240,000 people work daily, for years, for decades, with people, of whom almost 120,000 have committed murder, 75,000—robberies. The term is determined for them by the court, the person is punished according to the law, but personality traits and character features have remained. Therefore, it is unacceptable to provoke convicts into base acts on the one hand and, at the same time, not to waver oneself, not to allow a retreat from the law. This is the main meaning of the entire service of the employees.
Despite the more frequent cases of threats and attacks on employees connected with their official activity, only 129 convicts and those sitting in pre-trial detention centres have been brought to criminal liability. And yet, in 2007–2008, there were 426 threats and attacks on people in uniform, and in the colonies themselves, prisoners attacked 150 times. With more than one hundred registered threats of causing harm to the health of employees, only 42 sets of materials were sent to the prosecutor’s office and internal affairs bodies, and 16 people were brought to criminal liability.
Society needs to learn to respect this very difficult work, and the state must duly value the labour of the staff of the penitentiary department. By the way, the salary of a mid-level officer with 10 years of service is 18,000 roubles, and for junior command staff, even less.
Today, there is a lack of budget appropriations even for medical insurance for personnel. The number of families of employees who do not have housing is over 11,000. And the number of families waiting for an improvement in housing conditions for more than 20 years is over 31,000.
Prison is a painful topic, some will say, and an eternal one, others will add. But it must be dealt with seriously, otherwise it will bring so many problems that it will seem like a small thing to no one.